Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Richard Levitt, who worked in communications at Oracle for more than seven years, originally published this post on LinkedIn. It started off right

…Around 1984, Rick Bennett convinced Larry to start running ads. Rick’s approach is highly aggressive and confrontational. And, as it turned out, highly disruptive and successful.In an essay about his time working with Larry, Rick wrote, “I once asked Larry if maybe we ought to run some ad copy by legal. His response surprised me. He said, ‘Hell no! I’ve got a litigation department. Let ’em litigate.

’”That relationship lasted until about 1990. Soon Larry started writing his own ads. Larry is a brilliant tech guy, powerful leader and businessman. But he’s not a copywriter. And without anyone to guide or challenge him, that edgy positioning diminished into self-referential statistics. Worse, ads crumbled under extreme legal oversight....